CHARLOTTE, N.C. Â High Point junior forward Arizona Reid and Winthrop head coach Gregg Marshall have been voted as the 2006-07 Big South Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively, by the League’s head coaches, sports information directors and media panel, it was announced Monday morning by the Conference office. The panel voted Coastal Carolina guard Joshua Mack Freshman of the Year and VMI sophomore guard Travis Holmes as the League’s Defensive Player of the Year. Coastal Carolina’s Jack Leasure was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the SIDs for the second consecutive season.

Reid helped spark High Point’s record-setting season on the hardwood in 2006-07, as the Panthers posted their first 20-win campaign at the Division I level (21-9) and a school-record 11 Big South wins since joining the League to finish second in the standings at 11-3. Reid is currently second in the Big South in overall scoring with 21.6 points per game, while leading the Conference with 9.6 rebounds Â one of just four players nationally averaging 20.0 points and 9.0 rebounds this season. He is fourth in field goal percentage, first in defensive rebounds and fourth in offensive boards. In Conference Games, Reid upped his averages to 26.0 points, 10.9 rebounds and .544 percent from the field. He leads the Conference with 13 double-doubles, including eight games with 20 points/10 rebounds, and has scored in double figures in 27 of 30 games, including all 14 Big South games. Reid received 21 first-place votes from the panel and 283 total points.

Marshall led the Eagles to their third consecutive regular-season championship and the League’s first-ever perfect Conference season at 14-0. The first four-time Big South Coach of the Year, Marshall’s squad enters the Advance Auto Parts Men’s Basketball Championship with a 25-4 record, highlighted by wins over Mississippi State, Old Dominion and a BracketBusters victory at Missouri State. Winthrop’s four losses were all to Top 25 teams (North Carolina, Wisconsin, Maryland, Texas A&M) away from home. The Eagles lead the Big South in six statistical categories, including scoring defense for the ninth-straight season (60.9) and field goal defense (.408). Winthrop has won 20 consecutive home games and is carrying a 15-game win streak into this week’s Big South Tournament. In addition, the Eagles have been ranked in the Top 10 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll all season, including the Top 3 the past six weeks. Marshall (190-82) is just three wins away from tying the Big South record for most coaching victories (193), and is a finalist for both the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year and the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year.

Mack is Coastal’s fifth-ever Freshman of the Year, ending the regular-season with a 12.3 points per game average, good for 19th in the League and highest among all freshmen. He is also fourth in three-point percentage (.374), 12th in assists (3.14), 11th in steals (1.57), fifth in three-pointers per game (2.50) and 11th in assist/turnover ratio (1.26). In Conference Games, Mack averaged 13.1 points and was second in the League with a .854 free throw percentage (35-of-41). He also averaged 2.0 steals, 2.86 three-pointers per game and 3.0 assists against Big South foes. Mack started 25 of 28 games, scored a season-high 19 points in the win at VMI, including the late steal to set up the game-winning free throws, and had 13 points, including the game-winning layup as time expired, at Liberty. He scored in double figures in 20 games, including 10 of 13 League games. Mack finished with 20 first-place votes and 133 points, ahead of Radford’s Amir Johnson (five first-place votes, 105 points).

Holmes receives the Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year Award after posting a League-high 106 steals and national-leading 3.53 steals per game average. Just the fourth player in Big South history with 100 steals in a season, Holmes has helped the Keydets set Big South records for steals in a season (470) and per game (15.67), while leading a defense that forces 27.5 turnovers per game, including 25.2 in Conference action. He logged a school and Big South-record 11 steals against Bridgewater on Jan. 18, and has 10 games with at least five steals, including eight against Charleston Southern (Jan. 13), seven against UNC Asheville (Jan. 22) and six each against Winthrop (Jan. 6) and Liberty (Jan. 27). In League games, Holmes was tops with 53 steals and 3.79 steals per contest. He needs eight steals to tie the League’s single-season record of 114, and the Keydets are 16 steals from tying the NCAA record of 486.

Joining Reid on the All-Conference First-team are Liberty’s Larry Blair, VMI’s Reggie Williams and Winthrop’s Michael Jenkins and Craig Bradshaw. Blair and Reid are repeat First-team selections from a year ago, while Williams Â the nation’s leading scorer at 28.8 points per game, received second-team accolades last year. Bradshaw and Jenkins receive their first-ever All-Conference honor. The entire 2006-07 All-Conference team is as follows: